LaDuca’s walk-off HR sends W&J to championship round

Jacob LaDuca wanted to have a relaxing Friday night.
The Washington & Jefferson shortstop belted a 1-0 pitch over the right-field fence to put the Presidents in the championship round of the Presidents’ Athletic Conference baseball tournament with a 4-3 victory over Grove City at Ross Memorial Park.
During the postgame celebration, LaDuca received a water-bucket shower from his teammates.
W&J (30-12) plays Saint Vincent (22-17) in the finals this afternoon at 1. The Presidents need only one win for their fourth straight PAC tournament title. The tournament wasn’t contested in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Bearcats defeated Westminster, 7-4, before getting a five-run sixth and four-run seventh en route to a 13-6 victory over Grove City (30-11).
Saint Vincent qualified for the championship round two years ago, losing to the Presidents, 3-0.
“Our guys did a great, and the leaders on this team made sure we were ready to go,” Saint Vincent coach Mick Janosko said. “You could see it in pregame, win, lose or draw, they were going to give it everything they had.
“We knew we had to keep scoring runs against Grove City because they have the best lineup in the conference. Of course, W&J is no picnic, they’re strong, but Grove City is a very good team. I thought we played good defense and had opportunistic hitting. I can’t be more proud of these kids. We have another day to live.”
LaDuca, who had two hits, took a Evan Umland fastball deep on the second pitch he saw leading off the bottom of the 10th, as the Presidents battled back from a 3-0 deficit.
“I knew it had a chance (for a home run) when I hit it,” LaDuca said. “I started saying in the sixth inning, ‘Get me up and I’m going to win it.’ I felt good the whole day, and I kind of stuck to my middle-back approach. I was able to square that fastball up pretty good.
“Baseball can be frustrating. It’s part of the game when you hit the ball hard and get out, but eventually they will start to fall, as they did. I played last year and was able to experience this tournament, and playoff baseball never gets old. I love the culture at this school. It has a good academic and athletic feel, and I wanted to be part of a winning team, and that’s what they have here.”
The Wolverines scored one run in the second on Shane Cato’s RBI single up the middle, and added two more in the fifth after Anthony Tambellini scored on an error and Luke Vittone raced home on a sacrifice fly to right field by Peters Township graduate Nick Sampson.
W&J brought Mason Kolbe in relief of starter Nate Nolan in the sixth inning. Nolan allowed three runs (two earned) on three hits in five innings. He struck out one and walked two.
Kolbe, a senior right hander, didn’t allow a run on two hits in four innings. He struck out four and didn’t walk a batter.
“The story of the year for us has been to trust that things will figure themselves out during the game,” Kolbe said. “I just had to do my job like any other game. My slider and curveball were working really well, and because I throw from submarine, it is harder for the batters to pick up on.”
Kolbe said he would be willing to pitch, if needed, in today’s action.
“Mason is pitching with a torn labrum,” W&J coach Jeff Mountain said. “He is a senior, and he is just gutting it out as best he can and doing what he can. To do what he’s done is unbelievable.”
The Presidents found their offensive groove in the sixth, scoring three runs on four hits for a 3-3 game.
Scout Zaas and LaDuca had back-to-back singles to lead off the inning before Zaas scored on Sam Schuster’s double to right. LaDuca had to hold up at third base to ensure he wasn’t doubled off if a catch was made in the outfield.
Logan Scheider walked and LaDuca scored on Tyler Horvat’s sacrifice fly to left that cut the deficit to 3-2 with two outs. Schuster scored on Trevor Dean’s base hit to left.
Schuster had three hits and Zaas added two singles.
“It took one run,” Mountain said. “We needed to get that first one across. I think once that happened, guys maybe relaxed a little bit.”
Grove City had runners on second and third with two outs in the ninth, but Kolbe induced a flyout to center to end the threat.
“I just had to focus on getting the next batter out, even when they had guys on base,” Kolbe said.
The Wolverines had runners on first and second in the 10th after Tambellini and Vittone walked, but Dante DiMatteo forced Sampson to line out to second and Vittone was doubled off at first.
Mally Kilbane was intentionally walked and DiMatteo forced Josh Minnich to ground out to shortstop to end the threat.
DiMatteo, who recorded a program-best 14th career save Thursday against Westminster, was the winning pitcher.
“We know it is not going to be easy,” Mountain said. “There are no guarantees. Every game has been close. We don’t have a lot of margin for error.”